Landscape Contractors and Truckee Gardeners

About Grateful Gardens

Grateful Gardens is the dream business of owner Timmy Critz. Today, Grateful Gardens is a licensed landscaping company offering services to the Truckee and surrounding communities. Grateful Gardens is ready to make your dream space come true. We specialize in custom landscaping projects from patios and decks to elevation changes and rock work to native selected plants and water features. Our team works hard to help clients realize their dream gardens and ideal home yards by designing, installing and maintaining custom outdoor environments.

Trisha Stickney

General Manager

Since Trisha joined Grateful Gardens in January of 2014, no one can remember how they got along without her. Trisha and Tim have worked together to build the company and develop the expertise of their exceptional team. Originally from Massachusetts, Trisha moved to the Tahoe area back in 2004. She’s passionate about the outdoors, skiing in the winter and hiking and camping in the summer. Along with her partner Marc, they bought their dream home on Donner Summit in 2019. Trisha has a wonderful 10 year old daughter, Teagan, and 6 year old dog, Louie. “We are living our best life here on Donner summit. We are truly blessed and so Grateful!”

Kate Byus

Designer

There’s no place Kate would rather be than outside! Her love of the mountains, gardens, and an outdoor lifestyle drew her and her family to Truckee in 2020. It also fuels her passion for garden design! She joined the Grateful Gardens team in 2023, and enjoys helping clients bring their outdoor living dreams to life. Kate, her kids and puppy live in Tahoe Donner and relocated from Iowa in 2020. She has received her Master Gardener certification and holds certificates in Garden and Floral design. In her spare time Kate enjoys skiing, hiking, tennis, paddling, dogs, kids, friends and waging war on voles.

Mercedes Johnson

Numbers Master Bookkeeper

Mercedes joined our team in 2016. She is our behind-the-scenes numbers master! She has helped Grateful Gardens become a profitable, efficient, and top-service company since joining our team. She is dedicated to inspiring business owners with their true value and motivates the team at Grateful Gardens to do better each and every day. Mercedes and her partner Greg own a house on Donner Lake.

Jim Griffin

Production Manager

Coming from a trail building background, Jim joined our team in 2022 and has been a valuable member of the team in many ways. Moving to Truckee from Boonsboro, Maryland in 2009, Jim has learned many skills while instilling his hard work ethic learned from growing up on a farm. He lives in Glenshire with his 7 year old dog Bella and enjoys snowmobiling in the backcountry on his time off.

Karen Odmark

Office Manager

That smiling voice on the phone when you call the office is Karen who joined us in 2021 as Trish's assistant. Karen moved to Truckee in 1999, working in the animal care industry for 20 years, being particularly passionate about the welfare of dogs. Karen loves spending time with her teenage daughter Lola, partner Shawn and their dog Nikki. In her leisure time she enjoys hanging out by any body of water, especially summer evenings at the Truckee river; reading, swimming, bike riding, working out, hiking with dogs and cooking.

Meet Our Founder
Timmy Critz

You Dream it. We Make it Happen.

Grateful Gardens was founded in 2006 out of a passion for creating dream landscapes in Truckee’s beautiful environment. Founder Timmy Critz and his team of landscape expert contractors and Truckee-knowledgeable gardeners share a beautiful vision for landscaping in the region. They specialize in regenerative land management, permaculture practices, and beautiful hardscapes. We love assisting and creating the vision with you. With Timmy Critz’s building expertise and deep design knowledge, Grateful Garden will be the quality choice for your landscape needs.

Timmy Critz grew up on a 1,000 acre dairy farm, the youngest of nine kids, with five sisters ahead of him. All of the outside chores like cleaning the pool and mowing the lawn fell on Tim. Soon, lawn mowing became a love. “There is something about the straight lines of planting a wheat field or mowing a large turf surface that has stuck with me my whole life,” says Critz.

His father also owned a ski hill and that old Tucker grooming machine provided a year-round opportunity for Critz to practice making more straight lines. Thus, when he moved to the Tahoe area, he naturally began to landscape in the summers and groom snow in the winters. Critz developed his design skills and gardening knowledge through years of experience, and eventually founded Grateful Gardens in 2006. He still loves to play with big machines or simply work with a shovel to create living art pieces and maintain them to perfection.

“You can enjoy your outdoor space here in Truckee 24-7 with the right know-how. Now in our 16th year with the team I have assembled, we can take care of any size project that you could possibly envision.”

We would be grateful for an opportunity to introduce ourselves and our work to you. Please contact us for more information or a free consultation (530) 550-9372.